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Water source remains local goal |
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Monday, 07 January 2008 |
A long-term water source for the area is a continuing goal of officials in the city of Benton and surrounding areas, and the issue came up recently in a meeting of the Benton City Council’s Community Services Committee.
After some discussion, the panel pledged its support for an ordinance revising the per-meter customer rates for participation in the Southwest Watershed Alliance as it develops a plan to obtain water from Lake Ouachita.
Eight aldermen were present and all indicated they will vote for the ordinance when it is presented again at the Jan. 14 council meeting.
The Benton council recently approved the first reading of the ordinance that raises the rates from 25 cents per meter to 35 cents per meter, but in that meeting the aldermen delayed taking action on all of the three required readings because of some confusion, council members noted in the committee session.
The Southwest Watershed Alliance was formed to develop a long-term water source for its 11-member association. In addition to Benton, members are the cities of Bauxite, Bryant, Haskell, Shannon Hills, East End Water Improvement District, Paron/Owensville Water System, Salem Water Association Public Water Authority, Saline County Water & Sewer Public facilities Board, Sardis Water Association Public Water Authority and Southwest Water Association.
Ray Gabbard, who represents Benton in the alliance, attended the committee session to explain the need for the city’s immediate support of the alliance’s goal to develop the long-term allocation from Lake Ouachita.
Gabbard told the council members that it’s important to commit to this plan now or dash any hopes of obtaining any future allocations from Ouachita.
While the money to be collected for the project will not be spent now, it will be set aside for the time that an actual water project will begin, he noted.
“The city will be expected to pay for the allocation in advance, so the money has to be there,” Mayor Rick Holland said.
When SWA receives the allocation, it immediately has to pay for one year and within six months must pay for future years, he noted.
Gabbard pointed out that the alliance currently has congressional support for the plan. “I can almost guarantee you that if we don’t take advantage of this allocation, there will never be another opportunity.
“We’ve got to work together to do this,” Gabbard added.
In January 2005 the SWA created an agreement to collect 25 cents per water meter customer per month from participating water system in the county. That agreement expires this month.
Already agreeing to the allocation and the 10-cent increase are Saline County Water and Sewer, Salem, Haskell, Southwest Water Association, Bauxite and Shannon Hills.
Attending the recent committee meeting was Terry McKinney, general manager of Benton Utilities, who encouraged the council to support the alliance’s efforts to obtain the Lake Ouachita allocation.
“If we don’t take this one, there won’t be another one,” McKinney said. “We’re growing ... and the day will come when the city will run out of resources.”
The plan calls for Saline County to receive an allocation of 8.75 million gallons of water per day.
“We need to look at this like an insurance policy,” Gabbard said.
Alderman David Sparks said the future water source will protect residents in the event of a drought.
“We have to do something now or we’ll eventually run out of water,” he said.
“The 35 cents isn’t buying the water,” he added. “It’s just buying the allocation.”
In the document, it notes that it is the desire of the city to extend the deadline of the agreement funding for one year to allow SWA to develop a permanent agreement to fund further development and the water sub-allocation allotments from Lake Ouachita through the Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance when the allocation request is approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
McKinney noted that building a pipeline to receive the water will take about two years. The estimated total cost of the project is $94 million over a 20-year period.
In a recent visit to Benton, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., pledged her support to the Lake Ouachita plan. |
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